For the Love of Tapas

The past few days have been spent in tapas heaven...oh...and we saw some more stuff here in Spain too.

After finishing our time in Madrid we boarded the high-speed train for Granada. There is nothing more civilized than zipping through the countryside at 200+ kmh while you enjoy a glass of wine in the club car. The scenery was also spectacular and changes quite a bit as you move further south. We were also pleasantly surprised by change in weather, and stepped off the train to a beautiful 23 C Mediterranean day.

We looked around briefly for the local buses, but decided to hoof it to the downtown instead. It turned out that the train station was only about 1 km from our hostel and we had enjoyed a pleasant walk along Granada's Gran Via. Its worth mentioning at this point that we're very glad we decided to buy backpacks with wheels on the bottom. Its much easier to pull a backpack behind you than hitch it on your back. Although wheeled luggage is definitely a no-no for chic travelers (only backpacks with shoes and water bottles hanging off will do), we're no longer care. We've only had to carry our packs five or six times on this trip, but we have used those wheels everywhere.

We quickly found our way to Hostel Antares. The manager was elated that we were from Canada as he is a huge fan of Bachman Turner Overdrive. Anyway...we settled in to our very nice room and set out immediately for tapas and wine. We managed to pull ourselves away from the restaurants long enough to see the Cathedral and a few other sights in the city. Granada is nestled at the foot of the snow-clad Nevada Mountains and was a sanctuary for Muslims after the fall of Cordoba and Seville. The Alhambra is really a commanding presence over the whole town and we had tons of fun wandering around the maze-like streets of the town.

At the manager's advice, we walked up the hill (a very big hill) at 7:30 in the morning to get our tickets into the Alhambra. Because of the large number of people who visit each day, entrance to Palacio Nazaries is tightly controlled and everyone is assigned a specific time. We would have booked tickets on the internet in advance if we had known. The manager gave us good advice though and we got to visit the palace at 8:30 a.m., well before the crowds.

The Alhambra is one of the greatest accomplishments of Islamic art and architecture in the Mediterranean. It is at once a fortress, a palace, and a maze of patios and gardens. The Alcazaba - the Alhambra's fortress - dates from the 11th to the 13th centuries and boasts spectacular views of Granada from its towers. The Palacio Nazaries was built for Granada's Muslim rulers and is the centrepiece of the Alhambra. The detail and intricacy of the stuccos and woodwork are really awe inspiring. We spent over 4 hours walking around the area taking picture after picture of carved stone and beautiful tiles. Then we headed back into town for sangria and tapas (again). We also ate some great Lebanese food at the Samarkanda restaurant.

We went to bed at a reasonable time so we could get up and catch a bus to Seville early in the morning; however being Saturday night, it didn't quiet down until 6:30 a.m. Oh well, we had a great breakfast and managed to head down to the bus station around 10:30 am. No need to buy tickets ahead of time here(love the public transportation!). We caught a noon bus and three hours later found ourselves in Sevilla.

We got a little lost trying to find our hotel in the old historic part of town. It is a beautiful city and the streets wind around every which way. Our hotel was down a busy street with no sidewalks. The door to the hotel opened off a cobblestone road approximately one foot from the traffic on the street (really). Fun trying to get luggage in and not get hit by cars.

Gradually, we started to "get" the layout of the crazy streets so that we could get to a tourist attraction and back without getting lost. Along the way we visited many impressive plazas and enjoyed looking in the shop windows. We also enjoyed the sangria and tapas.

Although we only stayed one night we did manage to see a lot. Seville's cathedral is primarily Gothic and it holds the honour of being the largest cathedral in the world (by floor area). Yeah, seriously, wow. It was built over-top of an ancient mosque. A tower adjoins the cathedral and is called La Giralda. It use to be the mosques minaret and dates from the 12th century. We climbed up the 37 floors to get to the top and see all around Seville.

We also visited the Alcazar and the nearby Starbucks. Okay, Susan and I really enjoyed finding Starbucks again. Anyway...the Alcazar was a residence of Muslim and Christian royalty for many centuries and was founded in 913 as a fortress. It has been updated over the centuries and is a real mishmash of styles. The gardens were beautiful and well, it is hard to find other words to describe some of these old buildings. A joy to be able to see inside and every bit as impressive as Alhambra in Granada

Oh, we also had more sangria and tapas.

My parents picked us up at 1:30 pm the next day and we headed to Lagoa, Portugal. Aidan had been driving us crazy for hours waiting for his grandparents so we were very happy to see them arrive. We are looking forward to being pampered for a few days in Portugal.